Flying Solo

I did something last week I have not done in years; I took a trip by myself. My husband and I have taken vacations without our kids, but this time I went solo. My sister was turning 40 and with my family all living on the other side of the pond, I have missed way too many celebrations, so I whipped out my credit card and booked a flight!

I was only going for a week but, me being a control freak, it took some planning. First of all, I had to coordinate school rides for our kids (and the other kids I carpool), then I had to stock up on snack foods and non-perishables and paper goods. I resisted the urge to cook a week’s worth of dinners as I knew they would still be in the freezer when I got home.

My last task was to type up a list of daily chores so no one would forget to do laundry or feed the dog. Yes, my husband is capable of all of this, but as I said, I'm a control freak!

Packing my suitcase took a mere 15 minutes; I was packing light so I could stuff the case with British candy and goodies on the way home! Off to Logan Airport we went. I was taking an overnight flight so I could sleep and not be jet-lagged when I arrived. I had booked a window seat so I could rest my head.

The seat next to me was occupied by an older English woman that had lived outside of Boston for 40 years; she was on her way to her niece’s wedding. I heard all about her grandchildren and how her husband hates to travel. We shared our disgust for the airline food and compared which British foods we were looking forward to eating. I managed to get a couple of hours sleep, but I had so much fun talking to my seat-mate that time passed quickly.

I arrived at London Heathrow at 7:30 a.m. My sister lives two hours north of London and because of her kids, she could not come to pick me up. She had sent a local taxi company that does airport pick-ups.

I planned to use the drive home to sleep some more. Little did I know that the driver John was just as talkative as me! He is an interesting guy that has traveled the world but has never visited the U.S. He is a huge country music fan and even DJ’s a weekly show on a radio station. I told him there was no excuse–he had to at least go to Nashville!

The week with my sister and her family went way too fast. I got to watch my nephews (ages 8 and 9) play soccer and helped them with homework. My mom arrived and we took my sister to a spa to celebrate her birthday (that trip is a blog post in itself!).

Best of all we reminisced, we laughed and we enjoyed each other’s company. I ate my way through the list of foods I have missed; bangers and mash, sausage and chips and doner kebabs!

Before I knew it, I was back on the plane to fly home. Again I had booked a window seat so I could sleep, but once again I had way too much fun talking the person in the next seat; this time it was an English guy who lived in Boston. His daughter is seven so we compared notes on raising kids in a different country. This time the food was really good, although I wonder what the American people on the flight thought of the finger sandwiches in the afternoon tea; cheese and onion, a quintessential Brit food!

I had a great time, but it was wonderful to be home and  see my family again. There were hugs and kisses all round and a request to make something to eat; Amy was fed up with eating take-out! It was everything I had hoped it would be; but I missed my family, I won’t be in a hurry to take a vacation without them again.